


That what hides inside

by Eriathalia



Category: BioShock
Genre: AU where Delta and Sinclair live, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 16:06:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eriathalia/pseuds/Eriathalia
Summary: Sinclair is saved by Delta amongst the little Sisters and Eleanor.In the aftermath of events he is pondering his relationship with Delta and the other survivors.He finds that they have left a far greater impact than he would have thought possible, though it is hard for him to understand his conflicting emotions and newly discovered needs.





	That what hides inside

**Author's Note:**

> Centered on Sinclair because for some reason I like the character.  
> Written for a friend on Tumblr who really got me into Bioshock again.

Often at night he pondered his new life. If you would have asked him about a decade ago, he would have never imagined ending up in his current position. But life, he now knew, sometimes had its own way.,Ways which even the savviest businessman could not change. One could only follow the crowd and try one’s best to stay afloat.  
Certainly with his talent to seize opportunities no one else believed in, Augustus Sinclair had a hand in making the ride as enjoyable as could be, and god had he lived his life to the fullest, he barely saved his hide, having gained the compassion of a man who was not a man anymore, had not been one for a long time, and at the same time remained more of a man than those who looked the likes, those who would readily title him a gruesome, stinking monster.

Sinclair turned his head and looked at the massive, sleeping figure next to him. At least he supposed the other was sleeping. It was hard to tell whatever lurked beneath the heavy steel helmet. Others would have been afraid. He however, he felt grateful.  
Taking in the still silhouette, he pondered what truly made the monster and what made the man, coming to the conclusion there was no easy answer.  
The outside world would be hard pressed to understand, would condemn Delta and maybe even hunt him down, try to kill him or worse, incarcerate him to subject him to more testing until at last the will to live would leave his companion, letting oblivion take him away for good. It was a fate that Augustus wanted to prevent at any cost.

He had seen the truth, had witnessed the tenderness with which Delta took care of the little sisters, not like the brute protector he was supposed to be, but like a loving parent guarding his children. The girls had loved him for it, trusted him unconditionally. The smiles they directed at Delta must have been the most sincere they had shown anyone in their lives. Against all odds and, Sinclair had to shamefully admit, his own advice, Delta had saved them all, even though at the time it had diminished his chances of surviving. He was ultimately the reason that families could be reunited and little girls regained the chance to live and grow, regained their future outside of the confines of Rapture, a single woman’s madness and delusional ideals. 

And most of all, Sinclair owed Delta his own life. He could barely recall what came to pass, the memories clouded by the poor condition he had been in after Lamb had gotten her dirty hands on him, tried her best to morph him beyond recognition. But one thing was burned into his memory: the way strong arms had wrapped around his middle, lifted him up and carried him away. At the time he had struggled, his survival instincts telling him to fight off what danger he could, until his half lidded eyes had made out the figure of a girl, a teen, hovering on the creature’s shoulder, smiling worriedly, though nonetheless reassuringly. He knew the face. Eleanor Lamb. The one Delta had longed to find, his “daughter”. And he understood. It was the last thing he could remember before everything was submerged in darkness and blissful oblivion. 

When next he had come to, he felt cold, and it had struck him like a lightning bolt. Air, real, fresh air, the salty scent of a slight breezes across the ocean made his skin tingle, cooling his feverish body. He had doubted he would ever feel it again. When he had looked around, his gaze had fallen on Delta’s unmoving body. Sinclair had wanted to reach out, grab one of those heavily gloved hands, but his limbs had felt heavy as lead. It had frustrated him, causing a growl to escape his parched throat, attracting the attention of several curious faces which he only then had taken in. When he desperately had tried to move again, a tiny, slender hand appeared on his arm, beckoning him to turn his face towards the one it belonged to. His eyes had met Eleanor’s in a silent question. The relief he had felt when she had nodded, confirming his savior was still alive, had been more intense than anything Augustus had ever felt to that day.

A low growl snapped him out of his musings. Swiftly he shifted in his seat and leaned forward, furtively searching for any sign giving away his companion’s feelings. Of course there was none to be seen.

“Having a bad dream ol’ fellow?” Sinclair asked, leaning over the other. Of course there would not be an answer, at least no more than another rumbling sound and a slight shift in posture, not after all that had been done to him.

“I have them too, at times.” He smiled wryly. “Who would have thought. A businessman without conscience, eh? Not me.” He stretched, then placed one hand on Delta’s arm, well aware that the other would not feel it through the heavy fabric of the diving suit.  
Augustus wished he could feel more, could make Delta feel in turn and offer any actual comfort. But he knew it was unlikely the other would ever be restored, not to the man he once was anyway.  
He hated them, Ryan and Lamb and Suchong and all those who had made his companion what he was now. True, back in the day they had been partners of some sorts, and god only knows how many he himself had condemned to a similar fate, selling them off like kettle for experiments. Once he did not care as long as his riches grew.  
These days however, he felt something akin to remorse.  
Certainly, Sinclair was no good man. He was selfish and more often than not a coward, but he was not incapable of caring. 

Once more he was shaken out of his silent musing, though this time by a massive hand squeezing his shoulder. He looked up.  
“Ye worried ‘bout me Johnny?” Sinclair forced himself to grin “Nothin’ goin’ on. Just an ol’ fool lost in thought”  
Delta tilted his upper body aside as if to signal understanding.  
“Ye are a good fellow” Augustus stretched once again, flinging his arms up and causing his white shirt to slip from the confines of his pants, baring the slightly tanned skin of his lower stomach in the process. If it hadn’t been a ridiculous notion, he could have sworn Delta’s eyes, or whatever was left of them under that helmet, were fixated on the piece of exposed skin.  
“You alright ol’ sport?”  
Delta growled. Sinclair could only guess the meaning. 

Once Eleanor had told him about the strong bond she shared with her father, one that allowed them to breach the one-sided communication his own relationship with Delta was reduced to.  
For some reason he envied them, a feeling that suited him far too well. No man would ever change completely. The sinner would not become a saint. And he would always retain his flaws, not that there were not enough in his appearance alone.  
The notion caused him to frown.  
Once he had been dapper and charming with an exquisite physique and a full head of dark hair, a player who could ensnare any young lady with just a smile and a wink of his hazel eyes. His money had done the rest.  
A piece of his charm remained, but his body had withered away, softened and fattened around the middle. His hair was woven with streaks of grey and thinning, his eyes rimmed with dark circles, the face withered and wrinkled, so utterly undesirable, even in his own eyes. 

He sighed. His interests in women were a thing of the past, but Augustus could not deny there was some longing inside him, one that he was afraid to name. He knew what it was, after all it had been lurking in the shadows of his mind, a silly infatuation which would never be allowed to bloom.

He shot Delta a rueful glance. What once was no more to him than his ticket to freedom had made a home in his old, shriveled heart, growing until it became a wish for something that he would never possess.  
If only...what? If only he had never joined Ryan’s cause? If only he had not sold off men like Delta? If only he had never met the man in the first place? No. That was not it. If only they had met under different circumstances. Yes. For just a moment Sinclair wondered if it had been in his power to change Delta’s fate. After all there rarely was a thing that money had not given him access to. Know the right people, press the right buttons, enjoy the fruits of your work.

But even as things were, he could not deny his attraction, something that the metal and leather exterior of Delta’s suit could not extinguish. There was a calmness to him, an undeniable strength that surpassed his physical powers a hundredfold and a sensation of safety that had lured Augustus in. 

It was the reason he could not stop watching the other at night when sleep would evade him. Sometimes he even dared to touch him, passing his fingers across the back of gloved hands or the plains of a thickly cushioned stomach. Augustus often wished Delta could sense it, wished he would find a bigger hand closing around his own.

They could have been great together, the perfect team with the world at their feet. But he guessed that was no more than a spurn of his dreams. 

Sinclair huffed. How far the mighty had fallen, him having his ambitions replaced by the simple wish for a family. Maybe it was him striving for the one thing that he had not yet achieved and that money alone could not grant him.

Once more his thoughts drifted back to Eleanor and the girls, the closeness Delta shared with them. It caused a confusing mixture of feelings to bubble up in him.

First there was some semblance of happiness, seeing the way they would climb on Delta’s shoulders, how the smaller ones would cling to his legs or how they would pull on his hands whenever they wanted their daddy to see what else they had come up with, be it the re-decoration of their current accommodations or smearing paint all across the metal surface of the suit in an attempt to “make daddy look pretty”. It was heartwarming to see the gentle giant who had fought his way through hundreds of crazed splicers to save his “daughter” and endured a share of pain that would probably have broken any other simply sit and patiently accept whatever treatment the still remaining sisters had in store for him that day.

Second there was a burning jealousy. He watched them and he smiled, but he was never a part of it, being reduced to a silent bystander at the sidelines.  
If not for Eleanor and her sad, understanding glances, he might have given up.  
The girls needed their father and Delta needed their affection to heal. At least Augustus suspected it was what gave the other a will to live aside from his daughter, sweet woman she was, patient and silent and oh so understanding, helpful whenever Delta was overwhelmed by an onslaught of...well, of what? Sinclair guessed that some demons would not turn away so soon.

In those moment he wanted to be the one breaking Delta’s fall, but he lacked the connection they shared. He could sit there and chat away, chat about the past, about his grandfather, how he came to be in Rapture or wild adventures from when he still was young. But it never seemed enough. The realisation of his failure burned hotter than hellfire and when it flared up high enough, threatening to consume him, all that kept him from giving up was once again the young woman who would silently squeeze his arm and plead him to stay with those warm and gentle eyes.

Augustus liked to think that Eleanor might have accepted him as a part of their broken family, as some semblance of a father figure, but at the end of the day they would still be able to make do without him.

And then, when he was about to turn his back and leave to selfishly spare himself further heartbreak -yes, he dared to label whatever it was gnawing on his soul as the feeling of an unrequited infatuation- he was forced to admit that missing them would be so much worse. They might not have needed him, but Augustus needed them, for he knew that, no matter where he turned his step, there would never be anyone who understood. Thus he stayed and kept on watching, day by day.

Without him knowing, his eyes had reddened, a few lonely tears falling down his cheeks. Give him numbers, problems, rational battles that could be fought with words and a good amount of money and he would excel, but confront him with emotions and he felt lost. They knew no logic, they could not be bribed or bought or talked into submission. Emotions demanded, lifted you up or beat you into the ground until you admitted defeat. He was so close to losing the fight.  
The rough touch of thick leather against his cheek startled him and he looked up, his puffy eyes meeting Delta’s visor and whatever remained hidden behind. How gentle those hands could be, how careful and delicate as a thick humb moved to wipe away another stray tear.

Augustus stared, unable to avert his eyes, searching for an answer, though the cold metal encasing Delta’s face yielded none.  
He was about to stutter an apology, declare his foolishness as something in his eye, but who did he mean to fool with it?  
And suddenly he was falling forward, falling against cold metal and worn out fabric and leather, gathered by arms that had no right to be so tender. It was enough to break him after all, his body reacting on it’s own volition to the close proximity. Delta just let it happen, a soft pressure against Sinclair’s back even encouraging him to sink down into Delta’s lap.

Augustus’ cheeks were flushed as he straddled one of Delta’s legs, a moan slipping from his throat as huge, gloved hands covered his bottom, squeezing the soft, fleshy mounds which seemed to fit so perfectly into the palms. It caused heat to rise throughout his body. Unconsciously he started moving against a strong thigh, the friction of the diving suits coarse fabric making him shake and moan as his pleasure was rising at an alarming speed. It had been far too long since anyone had touched him that way, his own hand never able to deliver the same level of satisfaction, even when he, in his most shameful moments, dreamed of Delta. It was barely enough to warm him in lonely nights.

How much he wished he could tear the suit off the other, get his hands on soft, supple skin, run his lips across a heated body writhing under his every caress, reviving all of his experience.  
He longed to kiss full lips, strong cheekbones and eyelids closed in bliss. In his mind he imagined bright blue eyes shining as they met his own, thanking him, loving him and they took his breath away.

His movements became more erratic, the fabric of his pants already dampened. When a strong, gloved hand moved to cup him he lost it and fell, moaning and gasping until the last drop of his seed was spent and he fell forward, his heated forehead cooled by the metal of Delta’s helmet. It should have felt uncomfortable, but the silent buzzing of the other’s life support system was oddly comforting.

Almost shyly Augustus slung his arms around Delta’s torso, by far not reaching around him, and smiled when he felt the motion returned.

After a few moments he looked up, then leaned forward and placed a kiss against the glass of Delta’s visor. He didn’t know why, but something in the way Delta’s arms tightened around him made him believe that the other understood, even returned what he could not yet bring himself to say.  
“One day I’ll turn ya back Johnny.” Sinclair mumbled. He did not know whether it was even possible, but he would try. And then he would repay his debt. Then, he thought, he would make the other shout his name in the throes of their shared passion. 

Until that day he would work to keep their unlikely family together. It would have to suffice. 

But after all, Augustus was a man who got what he wanted in the end.


End file.
